thanks planner...we are not planning on working so it would be more focused on volunteering...I like the idea of teaching English classes...I helped a local Dominican with math when we were last there.

no matter where you 'hang your hat' the obvious stuff fills the week (i.e. grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, housework...oh...and laundry) all things we do not mind doing ourselves + typically in the condo after 6ish, chill-out....cook some dinner, watch a bit of tv...bedtime and get up relatively early (ie. 6 or 7ish to enjoy the sun).

My wife and I love the DR...still considering moving their on a full-time basis. First time we spent one month, next time we spend 2 months...when we go again its going to be 4-6mths as the 'final test'.

Question (or more to get a general feeling)...what does a typical week/month 'look like' from an expat perspective? We found (having spent 2months in a Cabarete condo) its not lying on the beach every day...having said that we 'struggled a bit" with filling our day with more productive/meaningful purposes.

Living in a big NA city now we certainly have our 'routine' just wondering what that looks like in the DR.

I suppose living their would change things in terms of looking to make longer-term connections, social networks etc.

Anyway...that's our biggest 'concern'...what do you folks do to keep community up, socialize, volunteer, keep mentally and physically active, etc.

My wife and I are planning to spend 2months in the DR this time around. Last time around we spent 1mth+1day and were charged a fee to leave the country. I think the fellow at the airport said that fee would cover us for upto 6months even though we were just 1 day past the 30.

for the 2months does anyone know what the exit fee is per person? should we have pesos or US$ for that?

Understanding there are various forms of residency I've been reading a little about the investor residency status vs. retiree for example.

I recall seeing that if you invest min $200K USD in the DR you can get this status and that the investment does not need to be in real estate or business...it can be a term deposit (i.e. CD at a bank - 30/60/90) or other short term paper.

I've also read that if you plan on living there it might be best to have the interest paid in Dom Pesos.

So...question is...for two people (my wife and I) to obtain this type of residency how much USD$ would we have to invest in short-term paper/CDs in order to qualify?

Ex. if we "bought" $250K worth of short term paper that is about $10M Dom Pesos...if the rate is 8%/month that means about $67K Dom Pesos/month (and I understand that to be tax free?)...$67K Peso/mth = about $1600USD...is that enough?